By Elton Gomes
American e-commerce giant Amazon has started a new programme called ‘Select’ in India in an attempt to help emerging brands in gaining access to several brand-building tools and services. The Jeff Bezos-led platform has announced that it has recently crossed the milestone of four lakh sellers on its Amazon India platform.
What does Amazon Select aim to do
Amazon Indias director and general manager Gopal Pillai said that Select will help brands in gaining access to services such as consumer insights, among others. Pillai said, We have been piloting ‘Select’ over the last few months and have worked with over 100 brands. We have helped them get access to a suite of brand building tools and services spanning across discovery, consumer insights, brand consulting inputs, and enhanced brand protection services, PTI reported.
Pillai further said that Amazon Select will focus on developing long-term relationships with brands in order to help them generate competitive value for their businesses on Amazon and for helping them achieve their business aspirations. Under the Select programme, Amazon will be working with brands such as Miss Chase, The Yaya Cafe, Soul Fit, Skin Elements, Zink London, and Daily Objects.
“Our aim is to help across a brands’ value chain, from generating assortment insights, to providing quick-turnaround logistics solutions, and driving traffic to their products. Select is a horizontal/cross-category offering targeted at new and existing brands with differentiated product solutions,” Pillai told PTI.
Amazon India launches digital classroom
Amazon India had last year launched an initiative called Amazon Classroom, which constituted a virtual training programme that taught sellers the nuances of online selling.
The company said in a statement that the programme focussed on areas such as order processing, adding products, and managing returns that are required to operate a successful online business, as per a report in Business Line.
Sellers could to register for the program and were allowed to perform a demo on their seller dashboard, thus allowing them to collaborate with other sellers in real-time.
As we enter the new financial year, we encourage thousands more to leverage our marketplace and make the most of Indias growing digital economy. Amazon Classroom has been specially created for these new sellers who are seeking to learn these skills as they begin their online journey, Gopal Pillai told the Economic Times.
Amazon looks to dominate over Flipkart, pumps in more money in India
After retail giant Walmart acquired Flipkart, Amazon has looked at the Indian market with renewed interest. The company pumped in Rs 1,950 crore into its main India unit in January 2018. The fresh capital infusion at the start of 2018 accelerated Amazons efforts in overtaking Flipkart. It was also an indicator of Amazon Indias spending towards acquiring new customers and growing market share. Five months later, in May, Amazon once again pumped in Rs 2,600 crore in its India business unit.
The capital infusion in May came at a time when the Walmart-Flipkart deal was in its final stages. When contacted at the time, an Amazon India spokesperson said: “As India’s fastest growing e-commerce player with a long-term commitment to make e-commerce a habit for Indian customers, we continue to invest in the necessary technology and infrastructure to grow the entire ecosystem,” Business Today reported.
Reiterating its focus on India, Amazon made its third fresh infusion of Rs 2,700 crore in August 2018. The fresh funds proved that Amazon is leaving no stone unturned in capitalizing over the Indian market. More importantly, founder Jeff Bezos has committed to invest $5 billion in the Indian market.
Amazon has also been pumping funds into its other entities in India, such as Amazon Pay and its wholesale business. It only goes to show that through these investments, Amazon wants to dominate over the Indian market.
Elton Gomes is a staff writer at Qrius